West Brom Post Match Thread

Neville Kneville said:
No actually, Foden & Diaz have done nothing yet in the first team.

The only bit of 'bearing fruits' is the fact they are on the pitch.

Loads of players could have been 'on the pitch'. Some would have done ok.

The 'bearing fruits' bit, would come later.

It isbn't a special thing for a kid to get on the pitch, even at a club of City's level. It just became a big thing, because it happened so infrequently.

Pep used plenty of kids at Barca, many of whome never made it. Same with Ferguson at the swamp.

But they were all useful, as loads of ours could have been.

The problem with this 'argument' year in year out, is that people insist on having one that isn't there.

People such as myself & twosips have never complained about kids not getting 'extended runs' in the team, just about them getting a chance to get onthe pitch here & there, when their performances merit it.

That has not happened nearly enough in the past. Hopefully, this is the start of it & eventually giving game time to players like Diaz & Foden will start to 'bear fruit'.
Click to expand...

Well we disagree about the past but agree about the present and both want the same for the future. It's going to be interesting to see whether the wider football world picks up on these kids as they develop, and starts to see our Academy as what it is: the best.

As an aside, they are still recruiting the real young ones very pro-actively indeed. And the progression of Diaz etc can only help the sales pitch. I manage a junior football team ad one of our lads has been given full Academy status recently, and I live in West Yorkshire. I've told this story before, but about a year ago my mate was walking his dog at the local high school, which has loads of pitches used by junior teams at the weekend. This was a Saturday morning. He came across a group of young lads with parents with football gear and asked them what they were doing. They were waiting for a bus to come from City to show them round the Academy. Now that's impressive. We have football clubs all over the region, many much closer, but City are getting the pick.
 
Neville Kneville said:
I'm so delighted we got Laporte & it is a great price in this market.

I thought we took a big risk not signing a cb in he summer.

I thought he looked a little bit lightweight defensively v WBA but he isn't lightweight, so it's just a setlling thing.

One thing early in the game which showed the teamwork in action, where I'm sat near the penalty area, I saw Zinchenko slightly overhit a pass at Laporte, early on, straight away I could hear ederson shout 'hey hey hey' to Laporte, so he knew he had an easy out ball & didn't have to control it & risk being caught out.

Little thing but it just shows how they are operating.
Click to expand...
I think you are spot on about how they are operating, this is so obviously pep at work, and, not just in defence, it throughout the team, I think we are blessed to have what we have, a well run club from top to bottom.
With the best coach I have ever seen.
 
Neville Kneville said:
Yes, but we also need players like Zincheko, who is doing a great job, but for all we know, may never be good enough as a fullback, or a midfield player.

Doesn't matter, he is there now.

That's the secret the rags have had compared to City. Not creating 'stars' just creating squad players to help the first team.

They haven't found a 'star' for years. Well they found one, sold him & bought him back for 100 mil.
Click to expand...

I agree but in terms of judging the quality of what's coming through from the Academy, I think having guys like Foden and Diaz (and Tosin and Maffeo) is an improvement on what went immediately before.

My impression is that the standards are rising and are signs of a long project coming to fruition.

The past is done, whatever one thinks. I hope we produce more and more kids who can help the first team and that some can become long-term members of the squad.
 
Walking down the steps from SS3 last night there was a little lad 5/6 years old with his parents who was singing the 'Never felt more than singing the blues' song and 'You've had your day out now gooooooo home' all the way down. It was brilliant, I was too far back to say anything to him/them but it could have been me in 1970...the future is blue. Lucky lad.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Well we disagree about the past but agree about the present and both want the same for the future. It's going to be interesting to see whether the wider football world picks up on these kids as they develop, and starts to see our Academy as what it is: the best.

As an aside, they are still recruiting the real young ones very pro-actively indeed. And the progression of Diaz etc can only help the sales pitch. I manage a junior football team ad one of our lads has been given full Academy status recently, and I live in West Yorkshire. I've told this story before, but about a year ago my mate was walking his dog at the local high school, which has loads of pitches used by junior teams at the weekend. This was a Saturday morning. He came across a group of young lads with parents with football gear and asked them what they were doing. They were waiting for a bus to come from City to show them round the Academy. Now that's impressive. We have football clubs all over the region, many much closer, but City are getting the pick.
Click to expand...

The profile of Foden & the inclusion of Diaz, is a good selling point for the academy, plus Pep has now officially promoted Nmecha as well.
 
Neville Kneville said:
I'm so delighted we got Laporte & it is a great price in this market.

I thought we took a big risk not signing a cb in he summer.

I thought he looked a little bit lightweight defensively v WBA but he isn't lightweight, so it's just a setlling thing.

One thing early in the game which showed the teamwork in action, where I'm sat near the penalty area, I saw Zinchenko slightly overhit a pass at Laporte, early on, straight away I could hear ederson shout 'hey hey hey' to Laporte, so he knew he had an easy out ball & didn't have to control it & risk being caught out.

Little thing but it just shows how they are operating.
Click to expand...

I thought Laporte was maybe a little too anxious to get his challenges in at times, in stark contrast to how he was on the ball. All in all, I think he will be a hell of a good buy. Even Alan Pardew was moved to comment on his cross field passes and wish the rest of the league good luck on coping with yet another weapon in the City armoury.
 
Cityfan said:
Seriously?
Trippier is a decent footballer with a sweet right foot, but as a defender he is not a patch on Walker.
Sane shredded him when we played Spurs
Click to expand...

Now be fair, Sane shreds most defenders, I dont think he is that far behind Walker defending and far better in the attacking role/delivering crosses (Mho, but then Walker has improved under Pep).

My main point was we had him from a kid and numpty gave him away.
 
OB1 said:
I thought Laporte was maybe a little too anxious to get his challenges in at times, in stark contrast to how he was on the ball. All in all, I think he will be a hell of a good buy. Even Alan Pardew was moved to comment on his cross field passes and wish the rest of the league good luck on coping with yet another weapon in the City armoury.
Click to expand...

He looks the real deal to me. Great on the ball and strong in the air. Plays those crossfield passes so loved by Pep brilliantly.

Best of all...at one point I saw him bollocking Otamendi for not holding the line. And twice he received the ball from Bernado who was in a wide attacking area but down a blind alley. I tell you now, he screamed for that ball. I heard it from the top tier! He looks like A Kyle Walker style big, confident, winning personality to me.
 
blueonblue said:
Now be fair, Sane shreds most defenders, I dont think he is that far behind Walker defending and far better in the attacking role/delivering crosses (Mho, but then Walker has improved under Pep).

My main point was we had him from a kid and numpty gave him away.
Click to expand...
I think he's a fair bit behind Walker defensively and hasn't got anything like his engine for attacking. Crossing wise definitely better I'd agree.
It has though taken him a long time of playing games to get to that level, I'm not sure he'd have got the game time under any manager, a fair bit of it was at Championship level.
 
blueonblue said:
Now be fair, Sane shreds most defenders, I dont think he is that far behind Walker defending and far better in the attacking role/delivering crosses (Mho, but then Walker has improved under Pep).

My main point was we had him from a kid and numpty gave him away.
Click to expand...

Mate, Kyle Walker is light years ahead of Trippier.

I agree that Hughes was a numpty though, and we could certainly have raised 5 or 10 mill for him if we'd kept him.
 
Anyone got a clip of the Walker foul in the 2nd half, the Rondon and Ota spat which also included The Door and the one on Silva in the first half that could have been a penalty?
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Mate, Kyle Walker is light years ahead of Trippier.
Click to expand...

Your entitled to your opinion, but light years is a little strong, having watched him from being a kid he is far better than Walker at recovering and getting back into a tackle as an example (And he is better at timing a tackle so getting the ball cleanly)

Cityfan said:
I think he's a fair bit behind Walker defensively and hasn't got anything like his engine for attacking. Crossing wise definitely better I'd agree.
It has though taken him a long time of playing games to get to that level, I'm not sure he'd have got the game time under any manager, a fair bit of it was at Championship level.
Click to expand...

That backs up the wisdom of sending youth players out to get game time, he certainly wasn`t ready to step straight into the first team, but the talent was there to see even as a kid (Unless your name was hughes and you were a complete c*nt).
 
blueonblue said:
Your entitled to your opinion, but light years is a little strong, having watched him from being a kid he is far better than Walker at recovering and getting back into a tackle as an example (And he is better at timing a tackle so getting the ball cleanly)



That backs up the wisdom of sending youth players out to get game time, he certainly wasn`t ready to step straight into the first team, but the talent was there to see even as a kid (Unless your name was hughes and you were a complete c*nt).
Click to expand...

I don't think Trippier is good enough for City but it wouldn't have been impossible for him to play some games. Ben Mee was too slow & accident prone to play in an attacking team, he is at the right level.

The players from those years who, if they were that age now, I would really like Pep to get a hold of, are Sturridge & most of all Vladimir Weiss.

Imo, Weiss was a Sane/ Jesus level talent, who unfortunately was never taught how to actually play football.
 
hfc said:
Fernandinho won't face any action on alleged 'stamp'
Click to expand...
Thank fuck for that. Agenda........if it was Pogba there would be a Sky witch hunt followed by a 6 match ban.
 
Neville Kneville said:
First of all, 'I don't need an echo' when I was simply explaining that I was talking about Evans in the summer, not now, & secondly 'I said I trust pep's over your soapbox motivated opinion.'

No need for any it, at all.
Click to expand...
The echo reference was because I had already clearly already mentioned that the JFE contact was in the summer. The other frustration with you is that you make a comment without thinking it through (as we all do) but when called out you spend the next 10 pages trying to defend the indefensible.
 
bobbyowenquiff said:
Satisfying to get the result against another team of animals led by one of the media's favourite dinosaur managers. It's sad to see a club that was once graced by people like Regis and Cunningham (even Bryan Robson) become just another group of cloggers. I wonder how many points behind Eddie Howe's progressive team, which plays proper football with fewer resources, West Brom will finish.
Click to expand...

Aside from them trying to flog us JFE all summer, I didn’t have any grudge against them whatsoever, but, after last night, I really hope they go down.

I really am struggling to see how the hell Pep manages to keep his cool when shaking hands with 99% of our opposition’s managers after matches
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top